It will be found that the study of Christian Science— whether its teachings are or are not accepted—is an educational process; that it broadens and uplifts our humanitarian and religious thinking; that its teachings make for righteousness and right living in all ways. Among its practical fruits, it will be found that it constantly uplifts thought and life to higher ideals of purity and peace, of faith and faithfulness; that it is leading the skeptical, the discontented, the disconsolate, the wretched—and these are to be found everywhere, in proud mansions and humble cottages alike—out of the fogs and darkness of doubt and despair into the sunlight and joy of an assured faith that God is, and that God is Love, as the Scriptures declare. It will be found that it has already so far leavened the thought of mankind that the world at large is recognizing, more and more as each year passes, that thinking sickness and talking sickness, that malice, lust, envy, fear, worry, and their like, all are dire enemies to our health as well as to our happiness. The student of the signs of the times will find, as I think I am justified in affirming, that the influence of Christian Science on the world's thought may be aptly compared with the tropical currents of the Gulf Stream which penetrate the frigid latitude of the Atlantic; and that the wholesomeness of its teachings has so far influenced the thought of mankind that this twentieth century is already budding, thickly budding, with radiant changes and probabilities.
It has been charged by our critics, as if it were a fault, that Christian Science tends to make optimists of its followers. We admit the charge, and rejoice that it is true. Why should not Christian Scientists be optimists, when they find it constantly proven to them in their every-day experiences that God really is,—not as a mere perfunctory dogma, but as an actual and joy-inspiring fact in their daily lives? They ought to become yet more and more optimistic, because they are brought to realize more and more that God is an immanent ever-presence of divine and absolute lovingkindness in all His relations to men; that God's laws are the only laws which really are, and that all of God's laws governing our being are for our harmony and happiness in all ways, at all times, for all purposes, under all circumstances and conditions; that all error is falsehood, and no part of the truth of our being, whatever its appearances to what we term our physical senses; that error, therefore, is not of God, and has no law or power behind it or sustaining it except in our own false beliefs, and therefore that it can be overcome by overcoming these false beliefs, according to the promise of Jesus, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Hence, Christian Science teaches that whether we smile in the sunshine or sorrow in the shadows; that whatever successes or dangers, disappointments or disasters may seem to visit our mortal lives; that however our earthly fortunes may prosper, or may darken and decay, still we should find humility, peace, content, joy in the abiding assurance that the arms of divine Love are around and beneath us always; that behind all appearances is the eternal unity of good, and over all a wise Providence of unlimited divine lovingkindness. Words of gold these,—the very first in our text-book,—"To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings."
